Terms of construction of a so-called Kerch bridge from mainland Russia to the occupied Crimea may be extended as the second tender to select a general contractor for the construction of the railway toward the bridge failed due to the lack of applications, Kommersant reports.
It is noted that the railway is scheduled to be laid by November 2019 for RUB 16.9 billion but the businesses believe that the price is too low, Kommersant reported.
In mid-December, the second tender was announced for the development construction documentation. The deadline for applications started on December 12 and ended Friday, but no applications have been received whatsoever.
The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation told the publication that the terms of construction at the moment remain unchanged, while the financing is planned from 2017.
Kommersant sources say that the main problem is the low cost of the contract. Head of Infoline-Analysis Mikhail Burmistrov agrees that the price does not ensure high margins, while the project is ”extremely important and complicated because of high seismic activity, and there is a high probability that the contractor will be subject to sanctions.” According to the expert, if the contractor is chosen in the first quarter of 2017, maintaining the deadline will be possible.
But if another competition does not take place, ”administrative decisions” will be required in order to prevent disruption of the launch of the rail link.
